“We’re collecting change for homeless people, spare change for homelessness projects”

Kate’s dulcet tones singing this are now on loop in my head following this afternoon’s community mission!

We were met by the very very lovely Jazz from Evolve Housing, who is the warmest taskowner and meant that, even standing outside a station on a very gusty late November evening, we wouldn’t get cold. We signed in to the station and, armed with collection buckets, got to work with trying to drum up donations from commuters, shoppers, school children and generally anyone who passed our way outside Kingston station.

We soon understood the ebbs and flows of the foot traffic and got strategising: one person per pedestrianised crossing and one for the station entrance, meaning that no one would escape our notice and we’d be prepared for any impending green men and the footfall they brought. But as peak commuting time neared, we reconvened and employed the reconfigured strategy: one person spanning the newly build “mini Holland” pedestrianised/cycling crossing zone, and one on each door of the station entrance.

As trains approached, we’d warn each other “train incoming”

and we'd flex our biceps, bicep-curling the buckets up and armed, ready for the influx. We judged the “quality” of the train based on the donations (London trains were our favourite - amazing donations!) and created a chorus of calls for donations for commuters to be greeted with upon alighting. Not quite Christmas carols, but we were at least festive in our various Santa and reindeer-themed accessories.

We wait in trepidation of the grand total of donations collected (Jazz has assured us that she’ll keep us posted) - hopefully we’ll have collected lots of money for such a great cause, especially at this time of year. Watch this space!

And extra thanks Jazz for your "raising the roof" contribution to our title pun - double kudos for you! With pun-creating skills like this, you just have to join us for a group run!